Under Armour's growth worries some neighbors

Company plans to double size of Baltimore headquarters

On a sunny fall day in Locust Point, neighborhood residents are out in force. Toddlers frolic in Latrobe Park's playground as tennis players trade volleys on a nearby court. Joggers thread through narrow streets lined with Formstone facades and renovated rowhouses with rooftop decks, while bicyclists pedal along the waterfront promenade outside Under Armour's Tide Point office complex.

Under Armour may be a $1 billion company that sells its sports apparel around the world, but home is Locust Point, be it ever so humble. And there lies a potential conflict.

The company has announced plans to double the size of its physical plant — news that upset some residents of the 1,800-home neighborhood on the narrow peninsula. They worry about construction that could block views, congestion that could add to parking woes, and competition from new shops and restaurants that could hurt longtime businesses.

"Everyone realizes Under Armour is a great company," said Christopher Ritsch, president of the Locust Point Civic Association. "But that doesn't mean they get to do anything they want at the expense of the community.

"We live here. This is our home. We do not want to be Fells Point. We do not want to be Federal Hill."

Under Armour maintains expansion is crucial to its future success. And its success is crucial to Locust Point, company officials say, because Under Armour creates jobs.

"This is not like we've dropped in here and are developing something just to maximize our square footage," J. Scott Plank, executive vice president of business development, said of the 15-year-old company's plans to grow. "If we don't have the ability to expand, the jobs will go somewhere else."

At a time when many companies are reluctant to hire or are shedding workers, Under Armour anticipates it will need to double the size of its headquarters over the next few years to meet demand for its products.

The company, which employs nearly 1,200 people at its Tide Point headquarters, has added about 400 workers in the past five years and plans to add as many as 300 next year.

In addition to office space for the additional employees, Under Armour says it needs room for a flagship store to showcase its merchandise, and athletic fields that could be used for testing products and holding tournaments.

The company also plans several waterfront improvements that it says will benefit the entire neighborhood, including a hiking/biking "greenway" linking the neighborhood toFort McHenry.

A request to allow the addition of as much as 400,000 square feet of office space and 50,000 square feet of retail is expected to come before the City Council in December.

In its first phase of expansion, Under Armour plans a four-story building to house offices and a 20,000-square-foot flagship store. The company hopes to begin construction next year and complete it in 2013.

The company plans to continue building as its business grows, but has offered no definite timeline. In a later phase, the Tide Building in the complex could be razed and replaced with a larger structure, plans show.

Community members, who have formed a task force to work with Under Armour, say they simply want a chance to be heard as the plans develop.

"Under Armour is a great brand to have locally," said Jeffrey W. Link, 34, a financial adviser who has lived in Locust Point since 2003. "It's great for property values. There's a lot of good to it, as long as [the company] works with the community and not against the community."

Life in Locust Point has changed before.

It has been decades since local residents were able to walk to work at nearby factories — including Procter & Gamble at what is now Tide Point. Neighborhood mainstay Domino Sugar remains, but many of the area's industrial employers have long since closed.

When Dan Macatee opened Hull Street Blues Cafe 27 years ago on the site of a former 19th-century saloon, his customers were likely to work in blue-collar jobs in the neighborhood.

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